How many songs do you know?

[mambo4]

with a chart, basic progression, memory, tab, anything.

Basic chord progression?

I IV V
I vi ii V
I vi IV V
I V vi IV
12 bar blues
Rhythm changes
...
that's 300+ easy.

 

[Pdaddy1978]

If you know Johnny B Good......
Then your over 1000 ..... Right?

 

[MVE]

If I can see the guitar player or piano player’s hands, I know the song.

 

[red_rhino]

Or I guess just troll if that how you wanna spend your afternoon

Having a difference of opinion with another Talkbass member (with whom I often agree on other topics) is not trolling. This thread strayed far from the purity of the poll long before I replied.

My comment of "discussing things that don't really matter on Talkbass." was intended to keep my reply and difference of opinion light-hearted. If that offended you in some way, that was not my intent.

 

[Hevy T]

Note for note? NONE!!

I have played o many local stages and always get compliments on how well I play, however people get surprised when I tell them that I don't know any songs and that I improvise everything I play!!

 

[dkelley]

I actually can't answer this thread. I've known in my life many thousands of songs.

I currently can probably play very very few entirely from memory without playing along to a recording or with a band. I still consider that knowing the songs though, since I can play them fine in practical usage.

All I can play entirely alone are solo numbers like portrait of tracy and other standards for solo bass.

Note (pardon the pun) that I sight read too, so memorizing hasn't always been a huge part of the required job description for me, except when touring or playing big paying fill in jobs (which was rare).

 

[obimark]

I can play about 70 from memory or by ear, but could add another 30 with a quick review of chord charts/ tabs.

 

[Chrisk-K]

I know a few blues songs from the 50’s. So it means that I know at least hundreds of songs.

 

[Deleted member 165050]

I know only one song, but I know it note-perfect. Although it's slightly different every time. I think it's called Four Thirty Three.

 

[tmw]

My OnSong Pro says I know 503 songs currently. Probably would double that for those that have been dropped over the years, but could be easily recalled from memory.
Damn, I’ve been doing this a long time.

 

[MikeBass]

The amount of songs I recall amazes me sometimes. if I can hum the song, I can play it.
It’s a blessing and a curse sometimes.

 

[Jon McBass]

What is your definition of "know a song"? Is it the ability to play the entire song from memory with no external cues? Is it playing from a chart? Big difference.

The former.

 

[TinIndian]

I play in two bands on a regular basis. Aside from 3 songs they are all different between the two so there is a little over a hundred there. I play in another band as needed for fill in stuff and those songs are completely different, so about another fifty. Add in songs I know from other bands and the songs I like to play for me and I am conservatively at 200. The true number is probably a little higher.

 

[NoSlapForYou]

I kind of stopped learning covers in my teens. So probably only a few dozen. I know hundreds of songs I've written and songs of bands I've played in, but I assume you're talking about covers. Or maybe not?

I've learned the occasional bass line over the year if I thought it was cool, but it doesn't interest me that much. I'm a songwriter first and foremost. I have good relative pitch, so I can listen to a song and tell what it's doing without having to learn it.

 

[1bassplayinfool]

Way too many to count. I'm willing to try a new one... what key is it in?

 

[twinjet]

I don't know songs, only progressions.

 

[AB Nate]

I kind of stopped learning covers in my teens. So probably only a few dozen. I know hundreds of songs I've written and songs of bands I've played in, but I assume you're talking about covers. Or maybe not?

I've learned the occasional bass line over the year if I thought it was cool, but it doesn't interest me that much. I'm a songwriter first and foremost. I have good relative pitch, so I can listen to a song and tell what it's doing without having to learn it.

just talking songs man. Covers , originals, jingles, lullaby ... what ever.
If you feel it’s a song and you feel you know it, it counts

 

[VolverseLoco]

Total time playing bass = 4.6 years. Can play 500 songs note for note +/- 10 notes with stats to prove it. 8000+ total song playthroughs. Its Rocksmith. I may have just disqualified myself...

 

[Johnny Fingers]

There’s a file drawer in the garage with over 500 praise and worship songs in it. After reaching 500 on the list I stopped counting.
Then I started writing myself some 3 CD’s worth and had another 100 or so Sunday School songs just for kids.
Before when I was in a rock band we did 4-5 sets of~8 songs each adding new ones every week so at least that many in total, probably more; going back several decades to the sixties.

 

[hrodbert696]

I was going through my music notebook a little while back and found a piece of paper tucked in the back; I had typed up and printed out all the songs I knew, maybe eleven or twelve years ago, when I was just getting started. There were a few dozen, and the the list proudly included Mustang Sally, With or Without You...

I have no idea how many songs I know now. Hundreds, I suppose. Honestly, it seems like the kind of thing that seems to matter a lot when you're starting out (hey, I learned ANOTHER one!), but when you've been in and out of cover bands with 40-song set lists over ten years, it doesn't really seem to matter any more.